A OPE of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia has been cancelled for claiming the Basque language in most places

A judge has annulled a call for public employment by the Foral Institute for Social Assistance (IFAS) of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, on the grounds that there is no proportionality in the language profiles of the posts called for, since the users of the service usually communicate in Spanish.

The Social Court No. 9 in Bilbao has considered theBasque language profilerequired in 18 of the 20 places of Superior Technician in Social Integration disproportionate, since the users of the service speak mostly Spanish.

The judge has found that the contested call provided for the requirement that 90 per cent of the places called should have a PL3 profile, which "almost doubled" the "mandatory rate" of 46.47 per cent  "indicated in the Plan for the Standardization of the Use of the Euskera of the Provincial Council.

"The contested call requires 90 per cent of new integration technicians to prove a Language Profile, when 81.95 per cent of workers in the same professional category and 73.61 per cent of the total staff already have such a Language Profile," the judgement states.

He added that "about 80%" of these technicians' relations with users and families are in Spanish, according to data from the foral plan.

For all these reasons, the Court has stated that "due to the firmness of the data described, the linguistic profile included in the call does not meet the proportionality criterion for such posts".

It also considers that the invitation to tender would violate the equal opportunities provided for in the Constitution, since applicants who fail to certify the language profile "would minimize the chances of obtaining a place". 

The Basque courts have annulled various public employment proceedings on the grounds that the required language profiles were abusive and discriminated against those who did not know Basque.